• No-Sew Knitting • Knitting in the Round • Knitting From the Top Down

Thursday, 25 August 2011

Today I'm starting something new. This sweater I had already knit but hadn't written it out yet. So I got at it and while I was there decided to work a Plus sized version too. So I've written this pattern twice, one for adult sizing 36" - 50" finished and the same pattern for Plus sizing 46" - 61" finished.

It's a simple Top Down jacket. It's easy and quick at a chunky weight gauge of 14 sts = 4". I'm going to use 2 strands of DK weight (gauge of 22 sts = 4") held together throughout to get the same gauge.

And to make it interesting I'm using 2 different blues (denim and electric blue) to get a subtle tweedy look.

I love tweed and manufacturing it myself is sort of exciting. I'm knitting a Plus size with some modifications from the Adult size. When I get there I'll have photos.
Deb

Elizabeth Fallone, designer & passionate knitter, opened her shop earlier this month. She's done a great job with the shop as you can see from the picture (I had to chase Elizabeth around the shop to get her in the picture - that's her on the right). The store is bright and airy and has a lovely selection of yarns and a very extensive collection of unusual buttons (which we know are hard to find). We're very pleased that Elizabeth has the full line of Cabin Fever yarn & books.

Thursday, 18 August 2011

I did do some knitting on my holidays.

I'm working on V-necks at the moment and this is the smallest plus size. It's 44" across the chest. I put some cables around the waist without compensating for how much they pull in and the waist is now 35". There are 4 stitch cables with 2 stitch twisted stitches in between and 2 purled stitches separating them all. Between the cables and the ribbing affect they pull it in a lot don't they.

I also put in short rows for the bust darts which added several inches to the length of the front but ended up too low down.

The real problem is that the yoke is too deep which threw off my butst darts. So back to the drawing board with my calculator.
-Deb

P.S. The deck was fun to build even though we are not very adept at it. That's the beauty of cottage building, it doesn't have to be done really well, just well enough.
The best book I reread was The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham. I love his books.

Monday, 15 August 2011

I was off to visit friends in the historic town of Manotick (just outside of Ottawa) this weekend and decided to try out Deb's new Crescent Scarf as a car project. Rather than taking a paper copy of the pattern I thought I'd try it on my Kobo book reader and was very pleasantly surprised at how clear the pattern was even with the reasonably small screen.
I think you can see how clear it is from this little image. The chart was easy to read and the written instructions were clear as a bell. One less bit to keep track of with it on the reader. It's on Patternfish as a downloadable pattern.We drove through Algonquin Park, which was a little distracting with so much to look at, so I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped and I must admit to a bit of a snooze coming home after a busy weekend on the river (we went in our friends boat up through the locks on the Rideau River right into Ottawa to the Parliment buildings - a great trip). I'm working with our hand-dyed superwash merino "Inspiration" yarn in a soft green which is looking lovely.Deb's version for the pattern is in our hand-dyed Silk & Silver yarn in a very pretty blue. I'm finished the lace part of the shawl (Deb put the lace in both a chart format as well as line-by-line instructions) and I should be able to whiz through the stocking stitch with short-rows pretty quickly. I'm really enjoying the pattern and think I might try to get one done with some cashmere yarn I've got - guess I better get on it and get it dyed!
-Lyn